Ryde, a local
carpool app which was launched in April, has found favour with
investors, raising $1.5 million in its seed-round funding that
ended last week.
Founder
Terence Zou told The Straits Times that the funds came from a few
angel and private investors, but he declined to name them.
Mr Zou, 40, a
Harvard Business School graduate, said the money will go towards
recruiting more engineers and marketing staff, as well as enhancing
the app's matching algorithm and adding more features. There are
also plans to launch the app regionally, he added.
Ryde connects
private-car drivers and passengers using Global Positioning System
technology so they can carpool. Depending on the distance, the app
proposes a payment of between $5 and $15, which the driver can
choose to collect from the rider to defray the cost of the journey,
such as petrol and tolls.
There are
other carpool apps and websites here, such as Tripda, SwiftBack,
ShareTransport.sg and Carpool. Joining the fray is GrabTaxi, which
said last week that it will launch a carpooling option, called
GrabHitch.
All trips
have to comply with laws passed in March which stipulate, among
various things, that drivers cannot solicit for passengers on the
road, and can make only two carpool trips a day.
Mr Zou said:
"Carpooling is not a new idea per se. What we are trying to do is
infuse technology into it - real-time matching algorithms... which
make it easier to find the same person going the same way."
Adding that
its target users are PMETs - professionals, managers, executives
and technicians - Mr Zou said: "We do not collect the money on our
platform... so drivers can offer the ride for free... It's a
kampung spirit of car pooling."
More than
10,000 users have signed up with Ryde, with about 60 per cent of
them being passengers.
There have
been 2,500 trips made through the app since April.
Ms Celeste
Lee, a private home tutor in her 20s, has been using the app since
July and has joined around 130 carpools. "The cost is really low,
like $5 from Jurong East to Clementi, regardless of whether it is
during the peak hour."
"I also get
to meet people who are like-minded. Some are interested in music,
like me," she added.
Driver
William Tan, 30, a broker, who has done about 20 carpool trips,
said carpooling helps to subsidise his petrol costs. A $5 payment,
for example, is worth about two litres of 98-grade petrol, he
said.
"Some riders
sit in the back seat. It would be good etiquette to sit next to the
driver. To carpool, I think you have to be prepared to be social,"
he said.
Responding to
complaints by some users that they have been unable to find rides
despite multiple tries, Mr Zou said: "We are cognisant (of the fact
that) we can't cover everyone now. As we grow bigger, it will get
increasingly easier and easier to get a match. By the law of large
numbers, it will get solved."